State by State Betting in the USA

Legal online betting is quickly becoming a reality in the United States. Most US states have had legal online horse racing betting for several years now, but more recently we are starting to see individual states legalize additional forms of online betting such as casino games, poker, daily fantasy sports and lotteries.

In 2011, the Department of Justice issued a legal opinion that changed the way the federal government interprets the Wire Act of 1961. Essentially, what the Department of Justice opined was that the Wire Act only applies to sports betting, not to other forms of online gaming. This decision ultimately made it possible for individual states to legalize and regulate new forms of online gaming.

New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware quickly got on board and legalized online casino games, online poker or both provided organizations seeking to organize such games are properly licensed and approved. Pennsylvania joined the party in 2017 and was followed by West Virginia in 2019.

Legal sports betting has expanded as well thanks to a 2018 Supreme Court decision striking down the federal prohibition. In addition to Nevada, we now have legal sports betting in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Mississippi and additional states since then.

The Department of Justice complicated things in 2019 with a sudden decision to go back to its pre-2011 interpretation of the Wire Act. Under the current opinion, the DOJ believes the Wire Act applies to all forms of gambling. The implications of the decision are unclear, but the decision has not stopped a growing number of states from taking up sports betting legislation.

BettingUSA.com is following these legal developments closely and we provide timely updates on our blog as well as overviews of the current situation in every state on the following state pages. Just follow any of the links below to read more about what’s legal in your state right now and what may be coming down the pipeline in the form of gambling-friendly legislation.

State Specific Betting Information A-Z

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

delaware

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

indiana

iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

michigan

Minnesota

mississippi

missouri

Montana

Nebraska

nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

washington

west virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

How State and Federal Laws Interact in Matters of Sports Betting and Gambling

Something that isn’t often explicitly explained when discussing the legalization of sports betting and other forms of gambling is how state and federal laws interact with one another. For example, it may not be immediately clear what it means for gamblers in your state specifically when you read that the Supreme Court has stricken down the federal sports betting prohibition.

In short, there are two sets of laws we must address in any discussion of sports betting or gambling. First, there are federal betting laws that apply to all states across the nation. These are the big picture laws that have an impact across all fifty states. Federal laws set the general tone for gambling, but tend not to be too specific in nature.

Some of the more impactful federal betting laws that have been enacted in the USA include:

PASPA: The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was the law that prohibited all states except Nevada from legalizing traditional sports wagering. Some states were granted exemptions for limited forms of betting, but overall it was PASPA that granted Nevada a virtual monopoly over sports betting. PASPA was famously stricken down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2018.

The Wire Act: The Interstate Wire Act of 1961 was enacted to target mafia groups that ran sports betting organizations across state lines. The Wire Act prohibits the use of “wire communications” to assist in placing wagers across state lines.

State betting laws impact things on the state level and cover everything not already covered by federal gambling laws. State laws tend to be more specific in nature as they fill in the gaps left by federal law. States have wide leeway in determining how to regulate gambling and betting as long as it doesn’t contradict federal law.

This is why, for example, when PASPA (a federal law) was in effect, states had no option to legalize and regulate sports betting. After PASPA was stricken down, states gained the ability to legalize sports betting if they choose. Some states have since chosen to legalize and regulate sports betting. In other states, sports betting is still prohibited by state law.

State laws also tend to deal with the nitty gritty details of gambling regulation. This is where state gambling commissions come into play and spell out all the rules for legal forms of gambling within each state. It is state law that determines things such as accepted business hours for casinos, how quickly winning sports wagers must be paid and so on.

This all goes to explain why we have a page dedicated to the betting laws of every US state. The laws and legal forms of gambling vary from state to state. What’s legal in one state may be outlawed the next state over, so we like to provide that information on a state-by-state basis.

Overall, the general tone in the United States today is drifting to a more accepting view of gambling. No states have moved to clamp down on gambling to any major degree in recent years, but many states have instead chosen to expand legal gambling options for their citizens. As new developments take place in the US, we will update our state-by-state pages to keep you informed and up to date.

States Where Sports Betting is Legal

Individual states now have the right to legalize and regulate sports betting as they see fit. This is a fairly recent development because for years, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) prevented all but four states from authorizing sports betting. Of those four states, only Nevada had a complete exemption allowing true, single-game sports betting.

Delaware and Oregon were also granted limited exemptions for limited forms of parlay-style “sports lotteries.” Montana permitted sports betting squares not run for a profit. Beyond that, no state was allowed any form of sports betting.

That all changed in May of 2018 when the Supreme Court ruled PASPA unconstitutional and struck it down in its entirety. The removal of PASPA did not automatically legalize sports betting across the nation, though. Each state must now alter its own laws to bring sports betting back into play.

Lawmakers in nearly two dozen states have introduced legislation seeking to legalize and regulate sports betting. To date, the following states have passed laws and either already have sportsbooks in operation or will soon.

We will update this list as more states join in on the sports betting craze, which is almost a certainty at this point. You can also follow our blog here for updates on legislative actions taking place across the United States. This page describes what is strictly legal right now, but our news updates on the blog provide a preview of things to come based on legal issues playing out in legislatures across the country.

States Where Online Gambling is Legal

States were prohibited from legalizing and regulating online gambling up until 2011 due to the Federal Wire Act previously being interpreted as applying to all forms of gambling. That all changed after lottery officials in New York and Illinois asked the Department of Justice to issue guidance regarding their wishes to begin selling online lottery tickets.

The Department of Justice issued a memorandum in 2011 stating that it has reinterpreted the Wire Act as only applying to sports betting. Although the original request from Illinois and New York was related to online lotteries, the Justice Department’s interpretation opened the door to most forms of online gambling.

Several states have since jumped on the opportunity to legalize, regulate and tax online casino games and poker. States where online casino games, online poker or both are legal include: